The End

This blog has been a labor of love. I never thought I'd keep up with a blog (and I barely did). I'm so glad though that I kept track of your milestones, funny moments, and special outings. I committed to keep it going until Sophie was five years old, so I will end it hear. You three made writing a blog easy with all your interesting conversations and fun activities. Thank you for being the special, fabulous young ladies that you are. You enrich my life every day.

I love you.

Mommy

Beginnings, and Endings

I started this post when Zoe was two. I didn't realize I never finalized it, so it wasn't added to the blog in order...



Zoe started preschool today. She has been talking about the "Hippo House" for some time now, and when the day was finally upon us, she seemed pretty excited. It was "preschool-light" today though. She went for 1 hour, while Scott and I were upstairs getting a make-up briefing since we missed the 'back to school night' (bad parents!).

She learned where her cubby would be, where the bathrooms were, who the other kids and the 'directress' was, and was generally acclimated to the class. Tomorrow she goes for a full day which is 8:45-11:45 ish. 

She was completely at ease about the whole thing. I don't think she fully understands yet that it's every day though. The day was also bolstered by her coming home to a birthday cake we were making for Aimee.  

Those are only a few of the 'beginnings' for Zoe this week. She also rode a horse (not a pony) at a party recently. And, she dug for potato's and went down the big slide at the farm.

Sophie - Six Years Old

Sophie, it has been so fun watching you learn all kinds of new things this year. Early in your fifth year, you began tying your shoes on your own. We had to convince you that you didn't need multiple double knots to keep your shoes on. You also starting running this year. You ran a 1mile fun run and two 5K's. As a Kindergartner in your Montessori class, you helped orient incoming students and even teach some lessons.

You had some amazing trips this year to places like Montana, Virginia Beach, and Alaska. 

For your birthday, we turned our house into a balloon paradise. You wanted a balloon party, so we had balloons everyone, made balloon animals and toys, played balloon games, and ate balloon cupcakes.

 And at school, you participated in the Montessori birthday celebration one last time. Ms. Dasbach read the book "On the day you were born", then you picked a globe and walked it around the lit candle that represents the sun six times while the class sang the birthday song one time for each year as you walked in slow circles around the sun candle. Then you blew the candle out. I will miss this celebration.

Happy sixth birthday Sophie!!! We love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

Sophie - Bye Bye Tooth

Sophie, you've been asking us when you would lose your first tooth since you were four years old. When your little front tooth started wiggling about two months ago, you were in heaven. After excessive wiggling over the past eight weeks, it was still hanging by a thread. You asked me routinely to look at it, wiggle it, touch it, etc.

I've had these same requests from Zoe and Mia. Here's my routine. I'll use a piece of dental floss to test how lose it is, and if I can get the floss most of the way under the tooth, I'll ask if you want me to wiggle it with the floss. Only if you say yes, I'll give a small pull on the tooth, and out it goes. 

This weekend was special because we went through this routine FOUR times. Zoe lost three teeth in the same 36 hour period that you lost your tooth. It was a busy weekend. 

Congratulations on your first lost tooth!

Love,

Mom

Mia - Eight Years Old

Mia, you are EIGHT!!! Wow - that's great! :) Each year with you has been more and more fun. You are just growing into the most fun little girl. 

You love school and are making more friends. You participate in Girl Scouts, soccer, Hebrew school, and piano. This year, you started playing travel soccer which is a bigger commitment than recreational soccer. You have a uniform, practice more often, and play tournaments. You LOVE it!!

This year you also got braces. That was a big deal. At first, we met with one orthodontist who wanted to use a full frontal head gear and braces. None of us liked that idea. We got some other opinions and found a great orthodontist who felt braces and expanders would do the trick. We all really liked Dr. Iverson, and that's who put your braces on. You get to change rubber band colors every time you have a check up, and they give you coins for doing what you are supposed to do to take care of your braces. That's super motivating, and you take great care of them. (As an aside, I could not get over the amount of recruiting that orthodontist's offices do to get families to come to them. It felt like a college recruitment process with lots of give aways. Crazy.)

For your birthday, you had a climbing party at Climb Zone. We made cupcakes with rock candy, and you had a great time with all your friends. You actually had two parties, because on the day of your birthday, there was a big snowstorm and everything was closed. We agreed to meet about six other families at a restaurant we could all walk to since the roads were closed, and we brought cupcakes for everyone. You were so surprised and happy. 

Happy birthday Mia! We love you!!!

Kid Speak - Politics

Tonight Zoe wanted to talk about politics. In particular, she asked me the following: "If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States and we go to Turks and Caicos in later November, will he let us back in the country?"